The present invention generally relates to the field of CMOS assembly and manufacture, and particularly to a system and method for CMOS integration.
The production and assembly of products has become increasing more competitive. For example, manufacturers of information handling systems, such as typical computer systems, convergence systems, digital information appliances, Internet appliances, personal digital assistants, and the like, must offer a variety of consumer choices to compete in a modern market. However, the provision of these multiple choices increases the complexity and therefore the cost of the manufacturing process. For instance, a manufacturer must supply a production process for each option, maintain an inventory of parts, manage packaging and shipping, and the like. The management of these diverse tasks may result in great inefficiencies as the overhead is increased with the addition of each option.
Previous methods utilized to address this problem resulted in great bureaucracies and costs. Consumers, selecting from a variety of product options, may arrive at a diverse variety of products. To produce these products, the manufacturer must determine the parts required, determine availability of parts, stock the parts, and derive a production process for actually assembling and producing the product. Each of these tasks required transferring corresponding work orders to various production groups, at which time the work order was received, option located, and then installed. However, the time requirements of operating such a system may be unsuitable in modern operations where inventory must remain low while providing quick assembly.
Specifically relating to the manufacture of computing systems, a desired configuration will comprise assembled hardware components configured to cooperate as a computing system. Specific to each such configuration is the setting of values from the computer system""s BIOS or basic input/output system. These values enable the system to recognize and communicate with its assembled hardware components. As is known to those of skill in the art, BIOS values specific to the system configuration are set and stored in what is commonly called CMOS, referring to complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, which is a particular technology permitting the storage of system critical information even when power is removed from the system. While the terms xe2x80x9cCMOSxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCMOS codexe2x80x9d will be used to refer to these values throughout this specification, it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that this term as used herein refers to non-volatile, settable BIOS values generally and is not limited only to complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology.
The particular CMOS settings of a system depend upon a number of parameters that are determined in turn by the component configuration of the system, including the size and configuration of a hard disk drive, the size and type of random access memory in the system, serial and parallel port addressing in the system, and the like. In circumstances where a number of different component configurations are possible, as is common in build-to-order manufacturing, it becomes necessary to determine and set each system""s CMOS settings accordingly. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an integration system and method for determining and setting CMOS based upon an order for a product having a desired configuration.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a system and method for integration of CMOS. In a first aspect of the present invention, a method of integration of CMOS includes receiving an order for a product having a desired configuration. A CMOS integration method is applied to the desired configuration to generate CMOS code. Upon identification of product for CMOS loading, custom CMOS code is loaded into the specific product. Thus, the product corresponding to the order may be produced having the desired configuration.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a system for integration of CMOS based on a received order includes a receiver for receiving an order coupled to a network, the receiver suitable for receiving an order for a product having a desired configuration. A generator suitable for generating the desired configuration is coupled to the receiver. A CMOS integration process is coupled to the configuration generator, the CMOS integration process includes applying rules for CMOS formation to the configuration to generate CMOS code. When the product for CMOS loading is identified, custom CMOS code is loaded into the product corresponding to the order having a desired configuration.
In a third aspect of the present invention, a system for integrating CMOS with a product based on a received order includes a processor for executing a program of instructions on the system. A memory is coupled to the processor, the memory suitable for storing the program of instructions executable by said processor; wherein the program of instructions configures the system to receive an order for a product having a desired configuration. Rules for CMOS formation are applied to generate CMOS code. The product identified for CMOS loading is then loaded with custom CMOS code so that the product corresponding to the order may be produced having the desired configuration.
It is to be understood that both the forgoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.